The French macroseismic database SISFRANCE: objectives, resultsand perspectives

Abstract

To comply with nuclear safety requirements, an in-depth research program for the revision of existing catalogues was initiated back in 1974. The priority of the partners involved in the SISFRANCE project was to establish the most exhaustive documentary databank in order to construct an intensity macroseismic database, concerning both epicentral and punctual observations. The architecture of the SISFRANCE database is presented. The strength of this parametric database is the attribution of reliability coefficients at all levels of interpretations going from the documentary sources to the final intensity estimate. To ensure homogeneity of the database, a general guideline was defined. The resulting macroseismic relational database SISFRANCE contains 65 000 intensity observations attesting to the existence of 5283 earthquakes (575 with Io ≥ VI) that have been felt on the French metropolitan territory over the past one thousand years. Thanks to the homogeneous methodology and to the continuous collaboration between BRGM, EDF and IRSN for the past 30 years, SISFRANCE is today a reference database and a key tool for seismic hazard assessment.

6-kyr record of flood frequency and intensity in the western Mediterranean Alps – Interplay of solar and temperature forcing

“…The Savine flood frequency presents 22 short term increases (dotted lines in Figure 8) mostly associated with high intensity. Each of these sharp increase seems synchronous to well-marked increases in TSI (Figure 8A, D;Steinhilber et al, 2012), suggesting increasing flood frequency and intensity during periods of solar minima. Over the last 1400 yrs BP, Wilhelm et al, (2012a) show that major multi-centennial changes in extreme precipitation patterns (frequency and intensity) in the Southern Alps occur during cooling phases, such as the LIA and are associated to solar activity.…”

“…Earthquake shaking appeared to be one of the most common factors that triggers mass movements in high-elevation alpine lakes (Wilhelm et al, 2016b). To test the earthquake trigger of the T2 deposits, ages of the most recent T2 deposits can be compared to dates of regional historical earthquakes well documented over the last centuries (Lambert and Levret-Albaret, 1996;Scotti et al, 2004).…”

A Holocene alpine seismic chronicle from Lake Aiguebelette (NW French Alps)

“…10 (B)). Indeed, each earthquake in the SisFrance database is associated with a number of uncertainties, depending on the knowledge we have on each event (Scotti et al, 2004;Jomard et al, 2021). By considering uncertainties associated with epicentral earthquake parameters (intensity and location), all these events could be either placed over or below the ESTI line (Fig.…”

Identifying Potential Earthquake Sources in Continental Environments

“…Sample nodes for training the algorithm were selected based on information about historical and instrumental earthquakes with I 0 ≥ V presented in the SisFrance earthquake database (SisFrance 2008). The catalog is comprehensive for the documented historical and instrumental earthquakes in France; it is the main earthquake database for seismic hazard assessments in this country (Scotti et al 2004). In the catalog, the size of earthquakes is characterized by the epicentral intensity according to M.S.K.…”